FYS 043 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Philosophical Perspectives, Egg Cell
Document Summary
Non-personhood grounds for examining the moral permissibility of abortion. Abortion is seriously immoral except in very rare cases because killing, except in rare cases, is morally wrong. Killing is morally wrong because it deprives the victim of a future like ours. Fetuses have a future like ours, so abortion is seriously immoral. Sperm and ova do not have a future like ours, so this analysis does not apply to contraception. Must already possess a future like ours; must have a personal future- fetuses don"t have a future like ours- fetuses don"t have the same connection to a personal future like developped humans do. Fetuses are not persons- they don"t have the relevant characteristics of a person. Morally relevant characteristics- conceptually based emotions-feeling states which can be experienced only if one is capable of understanding a variety of quite abstract concepts ex: moral guilt, regret, hope, pride.